In the course of my journalistic career, I was lucky to have covered four Thomas Cup editions. As a rookie reporter writing for Jaguh, the weekly insertion for the main paper Berita Harian, I bore witness to the 1992 Thomas Cup success in the bowels of Stadium Negara!
1994 - in what was my maiden international outing as a sports reporter, the 1994 edition was best remembered for the commotion during the final at Istora Senayan, a throwback to the 1967 final...and Yap Kim Hock-Tan Kim Her's debut as well as Razif-Jalani Sidek's swansong.
1998 - my first trip to Hong Kong, the scrumptious dim sum at the halal canteen and the fact we emerged runners-up to Indonesia. At the airport upon our return, I was given a lecture by Cheah Soon Kit, never an easy character to deal with. Also I liked to poke fun at the BAM general manager, Phua Tai Neng, formerly from the National Sports Council (NSC), saying that his role as the assistant manager included sending faxes to the then PM's wife, Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, now Tun. Earlier that year we qualified for the finals after successfully negotiating the prelims in Manila, where I bought a nice pair of shoes made of crazy horse leather (later stolen at Masjid Negara).
2000 - forgettable edition as BAM was internally rocked by bickering...well what else is new?
By the time the 2004 edition was held, I had given up covering the sport. I had a long list of enemies, mostly within the BA of Malaysia (BAM) set-up.
to be continued...
1 comment:
You can now catch the Thomas Cup Badminton LIVE coverage online via www.totalsports.tv for free in the beginning. The event takes place during office hours in Asia so this is a perfect opportunity to catch the teams in action! :-)
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